AUGUSTA, Ga. — With no disrespect to recent Masters winners Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Charl Schwartzel and Angel Cabrera, the last several years have not exactly been a golden era of Masters winners at Augusta National.
The question then, as this year’s Masters begins today, is whether another first-time major winner will crash Tiger Woods’ party as he tries to win his first major since 2008 and first Masters since 2005?
There are plenty of candidates from which to choose as players who could break through with a first Masters win and first major.
Ian Poulter, Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Jason Dufner and Rickie Fowler are a few who would seem to have a strong chance.
Count Scott as one of the contenders who does not believe Woods is a lock to win despite his three wins this season and six in the last year.
“He’s obviously the favorite here considering the form he’s in,’’ Scott said. “But that sometimes means little in golf. It’s just not a foregone conclusion. So much can happen over a four-day event — especially at a course like this.
“We all know what he’s capable of doing. He’s got the runs on the board for that,’’ said the Aussie, whose caddie, Steve Williams, used to work for Woods. “But he’s far from just running away with it at the moment. He’s just returned to No. 1 and that’s just a number at the end of the day. There are so many players playing well that it’s not a foregone conclusion that [he’ll win this week].’’
Scott theorized that so many of the contenders are young enough they don’t have the scar tissue left from the beatings Woods used to put on everyone during his years of dominance.
“With some of the guys, the biggest thing is they weren’t out here when he was in that space [dominating the sport] and they never saw that,’’ he said. “So they haven’t seen him at that level where he played before.’’
Poulter, who finished a career-best seventh last year, called this week “probably my best chance’’ to win a major, adding, “I need to go out and play well, and if I do play well and put myself in position, then hopefully I can take it with both hands come Sunday.’’
Snedeker, who finished tied for third in 2008, has two top 20 finishes in the last two tries and was one of the hottest players in the world earlier this year (a win, two runners-up and a tie for third) before suffering a rib injury that caused him to take a few weeks off. He missed the cut in his last two events.
Asked if winning a first major is “a process,’’ Snedeker said, “I hope the process is over. I’m ready. I feel like my game is ready.’’
Both Rose and Scott, who finished tied for eighth last year and was runner-up in 2011, are familiar with flirting with weekend leads in majors but have yet to find a way to close.
Rose has held the Masters lead after the first round three times. Once he led through 36 holes and another time he was in second place entering the final round.
“I’ve had some great rounds of golf here, and when you’ve done that you have confidence you can do it again,’’ he said. “It’s all about putting it together and I think a lot of that comes with experience here. You’ve got to learn how to manage your emotions and the golf course and then do all of that at the same time. I feel like this is a course I can win on. It suits a lot of players, though.’’